Category: Microsoft

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

Reach Screenshot

Although I think I’m going to know the answer for the half of the comments on this one, I’m going to roll with it anyway. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve asked what you guys were up to, and now is as good of a time as any.

For me, I’ve been dealing with Mass Effect 2 DLC, which, seriously, Lair of the Shadow Broker is incredible. In addition to that I’ve also been doing a little bit of Lego Harry Potter (yes, really). And most importantly, the title that has sucked away my life for this entire last week: Halo: Reach. Hopefully a review will be coming soon, but I really love the game, and haven’t been this absorbed in one for as long as I can remember. It’s owning my sleep, my interactions with people, everything. Just the way a good gaming binge should.

So what about you guys? What are you playing? And on top of that, who has Reach and would be up for a community play date sometime soon? Go!

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Coming To Kinect

One of the most legendary games of all time was Steel Battalion for the Xbox, mainly due to it’s incredibly complex controller, pictured here. 40 buttons and 2 control sticks were needed to play this game and few did, though likely because of the $200.00 price tag. Well, as we have seen, one of the main themes of this new generation of consoles has been streamlining and Capcom just set the bar as the newly announced Steel Battalion will have no buttons.

That’s right, as revealed at the Tokyo Game Show and reported by 1UP.com’s Frank Cifaldi, the sequel to the giant mech game will be a Kinect exclusive. How such a thing is even possible is beyond me, but color me intrigued. Other than Child of Eden, this is the first “hardcore” game revealed for Kinect, so perhaps they aren’t leaving their core demographic behind with their shiny new peripheral.

Did anyone out there play Steel Battalion? Would you be interested in buying a Kinect for this? Or will it just be another rail-shooter? Your keyboard has more than 40 buttons…use them now!

Source: 1UP

Poll: How Do You Buy Your Games?

The other night, I gathered in a line of the nerdiest of nerds, standing in mostly single file all with the same goal: Halo: Reach. I know, we’re trying to cut back on Reach posts, and you’ll see some more impressions/reviews in the coming week (I’ve already beat Campaign), but the line got me thinking about something else entirely.

As all of the nerds (I say this with mostly affection) began clamoring for whatever merchandise was being thrown out as prizes, I wondered how they all came to arrive there, and how the hype is different for a release in this digital download age. After all, you won’t see quite as many people lining up to play an exclusively PC game, since they can just order it with the click of a mouse. In the future, when Call of Duty 11X is being released for download on consoles, the hype machine will take a different appearance than we know it right now. Even talking to all of my friends, there are a variety of different methods that people used to obtain Halo: Reach. Online, pre-order, walk-in, etc.

So, I thought I’d ask: how would you say you purchase the majority of your games, and through what service? Go!

How Do You Buy Your Games?

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GamerSushi Asks: Halo: Reach Roll Call?

Halo: ReachIt’s about time, gents. For those of you who have been waiting patiently and impatiently for Halo: Reach, the week is finally upon us, rolling like a tidal way to sweep us up in its inexorable and powerful wake. For those that are sick of any and all Reach-around news, you are equally as joyous as the pain will soon be at its end, the hype pushed behind.

Regardless of your stance towards the huge franchise that Bungie fashioned with its own hands, Halo: Reach will be a hard game to ignore, and stands as Bungie’s swan song to Halo when it drops this Tuesday. If you’re unaware, the reviews are already pouring in, and apparently the game is turning a few heads. Many are calling it the greatest Halo game created.

So, with all of this nonsense in mind, I figured it was about time to do a roll call in these parts. I’m picking the game up tomorrow night at midnight, and I’m more than likely going to play it with my brother co-op through the night and the next day until we beat it, before jumping into other modes and replaying it again on legendary with multiple combatants. That’s the plan, anyway. I’m flexible, though.

What about you guys? Who out there is going to be getting Halo: Reach? When will you have it in your grimy and gamepad calloused hands? Roll call, boys. Go!

GamerSushi Top Six: Best DLC

Every generation of gaming seems defined by either new pieces of technology or something else that broadens our definition of what a game entails. One of the new advents that’s become more widespread in the last few years would be what is now known as DLC, a bit of an adaptation of the expansion pack from PC’s gaming glory days. It’s yet another example of the transition of gaming as it has moved from the desk to the couch, and it’s taken up its own shape as a result, both on the console and on PC.

Only in the last few years have developers started to show exceptional treatment in the handling of DLC, finding ways to extend the life of the games we love in a variety of ways. In no particular order, here are our top six games with great DLC: Continue reading GamerSushi Top Six: Best DLC

GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Well, GamerSushi-ans, the last time we had a GC vs LC vs PC was back in June, before E3. Ah, things were so innocent then. We had no knowledge of the terrible Kinect software, Portal 2 on the PS3 and Kid Icarus on the Nintendo 3DS. It was a simpler time. And now we’re back, ready to kick off the Fall with a new edition.

If you’re unfamiliar with this feature, we discuss gaming issues and we switch roles each time. The GameCop is looking out for you, the gamer, while the LameCop is just what he sounds like: kind of a lamewad. Meanwhile, PsychoCop is a troll in every sense of the word, and completely bat poop insane.

The topics of this week’s feature include the Final Fantasy XIV experience cap, Dead Rising Case Zero and the raised subscription fees of XBox Live.

Continue reading GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Valve Regrets Love Affair With 360, Moves to Open Development

team fortress valve heavy
A few years back, around the release of The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead, Valve was really going hard for Microsoft. They were trotting out quotes left and right saying how LIVE was the wave of the future and that the PS3 wasn’t really a good choice for developers. Fast forward to 2010, and opinions are changing. Back in July, Valve head honcho Gabe Newell swaggered out on stage at Sony’s E3 presser and announced that not only would Portal 2 be coming to the PlayStation 3, but it would be the premier version of the game. Naturally, some hyperbole is expected at E3, but Valve seems to be doing a neat about-face in regards to their console preferences.

Part of what caused Valve to change their mind about the X-Box 360 is that the development cycle for the system is very closed off. If you’re not familiar with Microsoft’s certification process, it is a very stringent battery of tests that need to be done internally by Microsoft before anything gets released to LIVE. This adds to the time needed to get patches out, even the critical ones. Microsoft also has a habit of insisting that downloadable content costs money, something Valve has preferred to avoid. The PS3, on the other hand, presents a much more open development platform for Valve, something they’re eager to utilize.
Continue reading Valve Regrets Love Affair With 360, Moves to Open Development

Bungie Tempts Us With Halo: Reach Campaign Walkthrough

I think I’ve mentioned this little factoid on here before, but I am kind of a spoiler hound. There are very few occasions where I manage to keep myself totally in the dark about a story for any book, movie or game. Case in point, I was playing through the new Mass Effect 2 DLC last night, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and I looked up the end of the level while I was playing it. If that isn’t crazy behavior, I don’t know what is. Just to make the wait for Halo: Reach even more unbareable, Bungie has seen fit to release a walkthrough of one of the campaign’s levels called Tip of the Spear, complete with commentary straight from the developers. I’m going to try and avoid watching this, but if you’re so inclined, I’ve embedded the video below:

If you did watch the video, what did you think? Pretty interesting, or are you trying to keep yourself squeaky clean for the next six days?

Today’s WTF: Microsoft Bans a Man for Living in Fort Gay

x-box live fort gayMicrosoft, Microsoft, Microsoft. What, are we playing catch-up to our former WTF King Blizzard now? If you’re not putting down your fanbase or trying to disguise your fairy leanings, then you’re banning people from your online service based on the name of their home town.

While this might not be an issue for most people (unless you have the misfortune to live near Lake Titicaca), an X-Box LIVE gamer recently ran afoul of Microsoft’s stringent “no bad words” policy. Typically these types of epithets are wielded on the internet with the expressed purpose of hurting someone’s feelings, but what if you’re just trying to tell people where you live. Fort Gay resident Josh Moore was kicked off of X-Box LIVE for adding the name of his town, a small 1,000 person hamlet in West Virginia, to his bio. Playing the devil’s advocate for Microsoft, they probably have a program that scours their user base looking for offensive language and auto-bans them without delving into specifics. Surely a phone call to X-Box LIVE’s customer service center could fix the issue? Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Mr. Moore was informed by Microsoft that the word gay was unacceptable in any context, and if he persisted in keeping the name of his town on his account, then his subscription would be canceled without a refund. Fort Gay’s mayor David Thompson got involved at this point, and through a series of interviews with local TV stations and the Associated Press, X-Box LIVE’s Director of Policy and Enforcement Stephen Toulouse stepped in and solved the issue. He reasons that, without context, the words Fort Gay, WV could be misconstrued as an insult. Mr. Toulouse promised to get in touch with Mr. Moore and remedy the situation. He said that keeping a lid on improper conduct on LIVE is a challenge, but he will work to set this particular incident right.

What do you guys think of this latest slip up? Microsoft is no stranger to backlash from heavy-handed maneuvers on LIVE, so this is just one more unfortunate incident. Obviously they were wrong in this instance, but is it better to be safe than sorry?

Source:CSB News

Today’s WTF: Rare’s Kameo Had Fairies?

Kameo Remember MeBack when the X-Box 360 launched in 2005, one of the the titles it came with was called Kameo: Elements of Power. At this point, the game has mostly slipped the collective memory of the 360’s user base, but the game’s developer, Rare, remembers. Rare just recently celebrated its 25 anniversary, and it spent a little time reminiscing about a game that is apparently a “painful” memory for the developer.

Rare initially started making Kameo for the GameCube back in 2002, but it was bought up by Microsoft shortly thereafter and transferred the game over to the then-upcoming 360. By that point, Kameo was mostly finished, so they just made a few tweaks to bring it up to next-gen standards. According to Creative Director George Andreas, the studio wished that they had scrapped it and started all over again. The game was originally aimed at the Nintendo audience, and Rare thought that the main character’s race wouldn’t fly with the 360’s shooter-centric crowd, so they fibbed. Here’s the word from Rare’s George Andreas on Kameo’s dirty secret:

“We changed direction slightly because of the new audience we were trying to aim at. We called Kameo an elf, but really she was a fairy. We tried to disguise that a few times, but it didn’t really work out. It was a game with a fairy for an audience that likes shooting and killing things. In hindsight, it probably would have been best to scrap everything and start again. And then we jumped on 360 as a launch title. We weren’t far off finishing [when that happened].”

Well there you have it, folks. We’ve been lied to all these years. This is kind of a funny thing to finally reveal after all this time, but carrying a burden such as this can be hard on people. While this is more of a amusing WTF than a puzzling one, I thought you guys would get a kick out of this. Do you have anything to say on this? Maybe it’s an over-all comment on the difficulty of breaching the X-Box audience with a new, more kid friendly IP?

Source: CVG

Microsoft Belittling Gamers at Kinect Launch Event?

Fat GamerAs both Sony and Microsoft follow the lead of Nintendo in the motion control front, there has been a question over which is more suitable to either hardcore or casual audiences. In my mind, there are bigger concerns about Kinect’s target audience. After the showing at E3, I’ve maintained that Kinect isn’t for gamers – it’s for their spouses, girlfriends, moms, etc. Microsoft is going after a new audience altogether, it seems.

Well, as of last week there’s perhaps more fuel to add to the fire. At a Kinect launch event, Microsoft made some rather objectionable comments about gamers, in what appears to be an attempt to connect (get it?) with a casual and non-gaming consumer. Here is what Microsoft’s regional entertainment guru, David McLean, had to say:

Gaming’s not just for sweaty thirty year olds in Metallica t-shirts…

Um, alright? I’m all for going after a new target audience. I can at least wrap my head around that. But this is an entirely different level, here. Continue reading Microsoft Belittling Gamers at Kinect Launch Event?

Bioware Dishes Enormous Helping of Mass Effect 2 Player Stats

Mass Effect 2

One thing that developers have been able to do within the last decade of gaming is to monitor player behavior in ways that were unprecedented before the online era. As someone a bit into user statistics myself (both for my job and as a hobby), I understand the desire to see how users are behaving, and I’m sure with something as robust as a sci-fi opera RPG like Mass Effect 2, the results are sometimes different to what was originally anticipated.

Enter Bioware, who has just recently released a whole smattering of interesting stats from Mass Effect 2. For instance, did you know that somewhere out there, a couple of PC gamers played ME2 a total of 28 times? You probably didn’t. That’s because it’s insane.

Check a few other statistics you might not have known, after the jump! Continue reading Bioware Dishes Enormous Helping of Mass Effect 2 Player Stats

Today’s WTF: Xbox LIVE Prices Going Up

Subscriptions are a tricky thing, especially in the video game industry. Thanks to World of Warcraft, $15 a month is now the standard fee for MMOs, but the console market is a different story. As of right now, only Microsoft has a mandatory subscription service (the PS3’s PlayStation Plus is optional), so they can pretty much price it however they want. Ever since the service launched back in 2002, the average price for a yearly rate was $49.99 for Americans, but as of November 1, 2010, this price is going up. The prices and the plans they affect vary across the board, but the US, UK, Canada and Mexico are seeing increases in all areas. The breakdowns are as after the jump: Continue reading Today’s WTF: Xbox LIVE Prices Going Up

Review: Limbo

Limbo Xbox Live ArcadeLimbo is an XBox Live arcade game, part of the Summer of Arcade that saw a slew of quality releases for the platform over the last couple of months. I remember leading up to the game’s release, I actually knew nothing about it, but kept hearing some buzz as people grew more and more excited. And even then, once I decided to look at a few screenshots, it was hard to get a sense of what people were so juiced up about. I remember people saying the same thing about Braid when it was released, and while I thought it was a good game, it seemed a bit overhyped and not as incredible as others made it out to be. In fact, I didn’t even finish that one.

However, after several of my friends raved about the short experience of Limbo, comparing it almost to Portal in its profundity and fun factor, I decided to give it a try. I downloaded the trial game, ready to play it and then toss it aside, never intending to click on that “purchase full game” option on the dashboard menu. But then I played the demo, and something happened. I was entranced by an atmosphere, thick and heavy and foreboding. I was lured by the puzzles and the platforming. And as soon as the trial ended, I didn’t hesitate to upgrade.

So what’s the big deal? Continue reading Review: Limbo

Halo: Reach Live Action Trailer is a Blast

Halo 3 set a precedent for using live footage to pimp a game, and now it seems like every new title has a live-action commercial to go with it. Halo is still the king with the excellent short called “Landfall” by Neill Blomkamp for Halo 3 and the “We Are ODST” video for the half-expansion cum sequel Halo 3: ODST. By rights, Reach should have an awesome trailer depicting Spartans kicking ass and taking names. However, all we’ve had are people on the planet Reach standing around talking, but that changes right now. Take a look at Halo: Reach’s live action trailer:

While I did enjoy the video of civilians before the fall of Reach, something about Spartans in combat just gets me even more excited for the game (if that was possible). It also helped that the video reminded me a little of District 9, which might have been intentionally done to link it back in with the Blomkamp shorts. What did you guys think of the trailer? Actually, what do you think of the current trend of using live-action commercials for games?

Avert Your Eyes: Halo: Reach Leaks Early

halo-reachSome people are persistent, there’s no doubt about that. Even when games are hidden inside Microsoft’s own fortress of code and priced at over $1250 on Xbox LIVE, pirates still find a way to get what they want. Halo: Reach, which is slated to come out in less than a month, has been grabbed from Microsoft via some skullduggery on their very own servers. The prohibitively expensive version of Reach (statue not included) was intended to be available to reviewers so Microsoft does not have to ship out box copies. Furthermore, even if you manage to scrounge up that many Microsoft Points, you still need a special download code to get it (Microsoft had done something similar with Crackdown 2, which is still not available publicly via LIVE).

While there’s been plenty of debate on this site about piracy and whether it’s good or bad, this is a pretty ballsy move even by Internet standards. Most games are pirated after their release or shortly before, but never from Microsoft’s own website. Spoiler-related threads are springing up all over the Web, so if you’d like to stay pure for September 14, batten down the hatches. Until the Cyber Police get this leak under control, there will be much chaos in the house of Xbox.

What do you guys think about this development? Are you going spoiler hunting or avoiding forums at all costs?

Source – Joystiq

Does this Harry Potter Demo Show the Perils of Kinect?

Motion control. I know, we’re all tired of debating the subject to death, but it’s here to stay and we’ll just have to live with the bonuses and negatives it brings. This will be especially true when both Move and Kinect launch this Fall, bringing a whole slew of new talking points to the conversation.

And while I hate to sound like a broken record here: the motion control trend concerns me, but most notably with Kinect. I think the technology that they’ve put together is fantastic and innovative, but the software we’ve seen so far, not so much. Take for example the new Kinect Harry Potter demo shown off this week at Gamescom. What might seem like a perfect fit for motion controls (who wouldn’t want to blast Death Eaters with wands), looks to be a downright mess. I’ll let you check it out.

I think the easiest thing to take note of is something I’ve wondered about Kinect for awhile now. With no buttons or controller at all (like Move or the Wii), how does one, you know… move through a game environment? The Forza demo shown at E3 had no way of accelerating or braking. Likewise, the Harry Potter demo displays no discernible way of moving the wizards through the, erm, wizarding world. Watch as the Weasley twins stop moving—that’s when the characters on screen run.

Basically, when you want to progress—stop moving. The gameplay then stops, Death Eaters appear, and then you engage in completely imprecise looking attacks. The Move equivalent of this game is Sorcery, and it seems to be light years ahead in comparison.

Honestly, I’m shocked at the way all of this is unfolding. Every new demonstration I’ve seen of Kinect leaves me more and more underwhelmed. What do you guys think? Too soon to judge, even though this thing debuts in just a few short months?

Halo 2600 Homebrew Brings The Fight To Atari

This is kind of an awesome little story. Ed Fries, former VP of Microsoft Game Publishing division, designed an Atari 2600 version of Halo. The game made its debut at the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas this past week, where cartridges were sold for $20.00 a pop. Apparently, Microsoft is okay with this and has decided not to send the Brutes (AKA: Legal Department) after Mr. Fries.

I know what you’re thinking: but, Anthony, I didn’t go to the Classic Gaming Expo and I don’t have an Atari 2600. In fact, some of you are probably wondering what that even is. Well, fret not, because Code Mystics was nice enough to host a flash version of the game that you can play for free! It reminds me of E.T. without the suckiness. Hearing the Halo title screen theme in those old-school bleeps and bloops is more than surreal.

So hit this link to start blasting away at the Covenant in a way you never thought possible:

Halo 2600

Source: Yahoo News

A Spartan Will Rise When Halo: Reach Falls

Bungie has a new ViDoc out that highlights the various Spartans of Nobel Team, giving you an insight into the minds of your squad members in Halo: Reach. Although the video isn’t especially long, I have to say that the character animations for Halo: Reach are much improved over the previous titles, and every Spartan in the trailer seems to have a great deal of personality. As a little treat to Halo fans, the trailer is narrated by a character we’ve read a lot about in the books, but have never seen in a game. Watch the following video to get the run down on your teammates:

We’re almost at September, so the Halo: Reach news will be coming fast and furious. We’ll definitely try to sort out the chaff so we’re not flooding the website with Halo posts, but this trailer was too good to pass up as a fan of Halo lore. I know this sort of video won’t turn anyone around who has decided not to get Reach, but what about those who are? Even more excited now?

Today’s WTF: Gun Loco Trailer

Square Enix has announced a new X-Box 360 exclusive today called Gun Loco, and the trailer is perhaps one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. The gameplay looks normal enough, all run and gun action with sliding, weaving and plenty of chest-high objects, but the art style is very, very odd. If you’re old enough to remember Virtua Fighter, you may find the characters in the video to have a similar look with their angular features and blocky body shapes. No word on whether this is a retail title or a LIVE Arcade release, but based on the rough look of the game, I’d guess the latter. Give the trailer a watch:

This is all the info I’ve seen about Gun Loco so far, other than the little tidbit that the character designs were done by respected toy maker Kenny Wong. The game will have both single and multiplayer components when it is released. What do you guys think of the trailer. Did you find it as weird as I did?

Update: It looks like this game is going to a be a full disc-based product after all. Hopefully the art gets a few more passes for polish before the release date.